Moussa Transfer thread - merged

[HatterDon]

Allowing Moussa to leave is confirmation that Fayed has no ambitions for the club and only wishes to redeem his  money.

Careful, my friend. The last time someone accused MAF and Fulham of having "no ambition" this board spent an entire season taunting him for it and hoping that his new club failed. Now, the fact that it was true didn't stop us then, but I'd still refrain from giving anyone on here your address. Sometimes it's dangerous to state facts.

[fulhamben]

Some say it is a positive that we are so quiet and don't say boo to a goose, but I am urging the club to release a statement tomorrow explaining what the hell is going on.

Losing Dembele is the worst thing that could happen to us at this time and with Dempsey refusing to play we have a situation where we have lost our 2 best players from last season and haven't found any kind of replacement.

If we are a healthy club, as Jol keeps saying then why are we so tight fisted? We give players ridiculously short contracts and expect to keep them. Maybe I am overreacting but tonight has been a bad night to be a Fulham fan.

I hope I am proved wrong and we make some big signings between now and saturday. I'm not holding my breath though.

would you actually believe anything they said in a statement though.. this season we have had dempsey did not go as he was injured...lies he had fallen out with us and wanted a move. followed by we want 2 to 3 players and the money is there. clearly lies as no one came in. and the latest little brama of if dembele was to go then it would take alot of money the kind that not many clubs have double lies, as 15 million is not a lot of money it buys you championship players like fletcher. and every other club spends that kind of money on a player, even southampton are trying to do that on one. so a pr stunt full of lies is not really needed today. as theres only so many times you can keep saying we still want 2 or 3 and the money is there. the best thing the club can do is actually buy a decent player and not some prem team that finsihed below us last years bench boy.

[btings]

Guys, you're driving me crazy.

He had a release clause.  Given that the qualifying bids were going to come in, there is no point in delaying it.  In fact, it is in the club's interest to move the process along as fast as possible, grab the cash, and have as many hours left in the week to make our own moves.

[costarican white]

Guys, you're driving me crazy.

He had a release clause.  Given that the qualifying bids were going to come in, there is no point in delaying it.  In fact, it is in the club's interest to move the process along as fast as possible, grab the cash, and have as many hours left in the week to make our own moves.

Totally agree, let´s see what happens in the next days, let´s keep the hope we´ll find a decent replacement

[JBH]

I hope you slept well and calmed down GENERAL because you reaction was a little over the top.

Jol didn't want to sell Dembele but he had a release claus and could do nothing about it!!

[Bradstow]

Allowing Moussa to leave is confirmation that Fayed has no ambitions for the club and only wishes to redeem his  money.

Careful, my friend. The last time someone accused MAF and Fulham of having "no ambition" this board spent an entire season taunting him for it and hoping that his new club failed. Now, the fact that it was true didn't stop us then, but I'd still refrain from giving anyone on here your address. Sometimes it's dangerous to state facts.

I have had all the insults from those on the old official forum who continue to genuflect before the image of what Fayed has done. They need to wake up and see what he IS doing.

[JBH]

Allowing Moussa to leave is confirmation that Fayed has no ambitions for the club and only wishes to redeem his  money.

Apart from Moussa there are too many first team members on short contracts. And who do we get to replace Moussa? Richardson! Well that's some consolation.

We owe a lot to Fayed for what he has done in the past. What is happening now is the start of a slide into mediocrity and potential relegation.

"There's none so blind as won't see" says the proverb. I have been insulted for my claims that Fayed has lost interest and I expect to be so again. As a supporter for 60 years, all I care about is the success of my team. 

What the hell are you on about? I f MAF had lost interest he would have sold us by now.

Your comments on MAF are totally out of order and if he hadn't done all he has already for this club no doubt you would  be on the Chelsea message board by now.

Players come and go (and yes its not nice to lose the best ones) but for a club of our stature its a fact of life.

Fulham is for life not just for the 2 Dems.

[cottage cheese]

west ham i thought maybe just maybe we could get a win with our midfield being strong. In the space of 24 hours I have changed my tune to I hope we stay up.

This is not a knee jerk reaction but a realistic one. We have just sold our only flair, the one player WHO can take on other players and leave them behind. Diarra, sidders are ,more central and dont have that ability to ghost past 2-3 players.  Seriously doubt we will bring in a player to match the quality of dembele.

We have never pushed on from a good season

[JBH]

  Seriously doubt we will bring in a player to match the quality of dembele.

I never thought we would bring in a player of Dembeles quality in the 1st place but we did, he is called Dembele.

No reason we won't do it again

[whiteburp]

lose to a championship side in a pathetic manner.lose dembele zamora scores,the pog scores.what a lovely night burp happy days boys !!!

[Aaron]

I thought I was a pessimist? :)

It is absolutely gutting to see this.  I couldn't give an arse about getting put out of the cup to be honest.  I think it's a blessing in disguise now as our squad is going to be thin enough between now and January (at the earliest).

I don't really blame the club or anyone involved.  Dempsey has had his head turned and is, as far as I am concerned, gone.  At best he will go now and we get a decent fee, at worst, he does a Zamora and bitches and moans then leaves for next to nothing.  Dembele had a release clause and has followed through on what he said he was going to do, I don't blame him.

What is incredibly frustrating is that we are now an injury away from being in the relegation zone instead of being a signing away from challenging for Europe.  Every time it looks like we're getting are act together we get punched in the stomach.  I guess this is what happens when you follow a club like Fulham..  If you have anything particularly good it gets taken by someone with deeper pockets at the first opportunity.

We can't blame MAF for not offering crazy money long term deals to these guys because we can't afford to do it.  Even if we did, the gap in disposable income between ourselves and some of the clubs out there means they would just sign Dempsey or Dembele for £100k a week instead of £80k and we would have shelled out a lot more dough than we had to just to end up in the same position.  Arsenal can't even compete anymore, so who do we think we are?

The way our board plays it is sustainable, or sustainable-ish anyway, we're still in more debt than most clubs in Europe, so at least we know we're not likely to do a Pompey anytime soon.  That said, we've taken the biggest step backwards in losing these two since appointing Lawrie Sanchez as our manager.  Relegation is still highly unlikely but if we lose Petric or Ruiz for any length of time we could find ourselves hovering just above it.

[The Bronsons]

What's the best we can hope for, seriously? Is it:

1) We bid whatever it takes and pay whatever the players ask to bring in recognised top players who have proved they can play at the highest level.

or

2) We rely on scouting, youth development and good coaching to find and train up promising young players (who will attract bigger clubs if they succeed) alongside older players with something to prove.

And while we're on the subject, which do we most want when Mo eventually goes?

1) A totally unsustainable club paying top wages to players it can't afford.

2) A well-run going concern with manageable losses.

And please, no more numpty comments about how we shouldn't let Moussa go. We can't keep him if Spurs have met the buy-out valuation. As has been said above. All we can hope is that Moussa takes one look at the weird pointy guy "managing" them and decides he'd rather stay with us for another year.

[TonyGilroy]

None of us are happy but if Dembele had a release clause as is being said then the club were powerless.

Obviously what matters is who comes in in the next three days. Contingency plans must have been in place and we can't now be short of cash. If we sign seriously good young players their agents will no doubt be insisting on release clauses in their contracts so the cycle continues.

Richardson is a decent squad player who is suited to our level.

What we must do though is bring in a central midfielder and striker good enough to be regulars. I'd be happy if Tom Hutchinson came as part of the Dembele deal even if only on a seasons loan.

What I don't doubt is MAF and Mackintosh's continuing committment to the club but if Arsenal can't keep Van Persie, Tottenham Modric and ManU Ronaldo then how are we expected to keep players coveted by bigger clubs.

[Lighthouse]

The selling of the two Dems is not the point. The quality of players coming in is. I think we can agree that so far the players who have left were of a better quality than those we have in. The forwards we have brought in, both of them do not actually fit Jols system very well. But the debate goes on.

[cottage cheese]

firstly you mean huddlestone and secondly we already have diarra and sidders for the defensive midfielder. In fact dembele was better at tackling than both of them anyway!

We need a box to box midfielder who has pace, the ability to turn the gas and run past 3 players. Otherwise we will not be in top ten especially if dempsey goes as well

[ffc73]

I would like the club to confirm that the Dembele sale was only triggered by a release clause. This would give me some solace

[George G]

Agree with all the above. Such a crying shame that we are in this situation so close to the end of the transfer window. But that's how clubs do their business I suppose- trigger a release clause as late in the window as possible leaving the club they are buying from severely damaged. Another thing that is hard to take is that as soon as Dembele goes to Tottenham his price tag will double and he will be given a very lucrative contract with a ridiculous release clause. This will leave us aggrieved because we know we should have got more for the player. Oh to be a Fulham fan.

[Edwatch_Winston_Malone]

If Dembele has a £15m trigger clause and Spurs offer £15m there is nothing that the club can do to stop him talking to Spurs.

That would be no different if we were a much wealthier club, it is just the contractual position we find ourselves in...

[cebu]

The release clause story materialized along with its sibling - the alleged option for an extra year - only in about the last 10 days. There is no evidence that any of that is true.

Just look at the reporting on the price tag for Modric, after the deal had been finalised with Real. The prices ranged from about £27.5m to £33m, i.e. even with this done deal, the press didn't have a clue what they were talking about. But that doesn't seem to stop them from publishing.

MAF/Mac have a selling price for any player. The alleged price of £15m would likely persuade them to sell .any player with only one year left on his contract. I think it's clear to management and fans alike that Dembele would walk for free on a Bosman next summer. I don't think MAF/Mac would ever let that happen - they will always sell and unfortunately from a business perspective it makes complete sense.

From a fan's perspective it's  "Moussa, please stay!"   :Belgique:

[JBH]

No staement will be made until everything about the deal is complete.